Ryan Callinan stars on day one of Tahiti Pro with amazing barrel

Stop six on the Championship Tour started on day four of the event window and the Merewether goofy-footer began well with a 6.5 from a clean barrel ride and wrapping cutback nine minutes in.

Up against Hawaiian Barron Mamiya and fellow Australian Liam O'Brien, Callinan went down heavily three minutes later trying to find his way through a longer barrel.

He fell to second behind O'Brien (11.6) briefly before dropping into a long tube and disappearing. He looked set for another wipeout before shooting out of the barrel to the cheers of the crowd with 18 minutes left on the clock.

Judges rewarded him a 9.1 for the highlight ride, and the 15.6 two-wave total gave him a comfortable win over O'Brien (11.6) and Mamiya (6.1).

It was the first nine-point ride in the men's competition and put the world No.18 directly into the round of 16.

"I got smoked but I was just kind of more kicking myself that I didn't make it because I got a 6.5 and thought that would he a pretty good back up," Callinan said of his wipeout.

"It was thick and I was just trying to push it as far as you can, but that one I was just too deep. I got a bit greedy.

"To have that wave and just go, 'all right, they are the ones I'm looking for, try and get another one'.

"Barron looked at it and he had priority, and he turned it up. It would have been a really hard backside wave to make because I had to pump a lot," he said of the 9.1.

"I pulled in and I went 'it's not as open as I'd like', but then it kept getting more open, I hit the foam ball, felt it spit and I was like 'too deep', then it just felt like, 'I'm still going, I'm still going', then the fog cleared, it was super open and I was so pumped to be still standing on my board.

"I've had some nice waves out here but just to get one in a heat, it's pretty special.

"Hopefully I can get some more bombs. The forecast looks amazing, so I'm stoked to be here and really excited for the next round."

Newcastle-based Tyler Wright was earlier last in her opening round women's heat to drop into the elimination round. Wright faced Frenchwoman Johanne Defay and won 14.6 to 13.76 to progress.